In tremendous agony, I picked up the gun and released a bullet into his skull, just to make sure.
“Chael,” Reese called as I stumbled over to her. “Oh my god, you’re hurt!”
I felt the blood gushing down my side, but I focused on getting her free.
“Ah!” I roared in frustration when I didn’t see a way to unlock her from the handcuffs. Again, I had to summon all of my strength to rip the shackles from the wall. My hands burned from the contact, but all I focused on was getting Reese free.
When she was, I drew her body into mine. But then the wounds overpowered me. As I pulled away from her body, I fell to my knees, grabbing my bleeding rib cage.
“Chael.” Reese grabbed my face as I slumped to the floor.
“Help!” she yelled. “Somebody help us! Please don’t die,” she pleaded.
“I choose you,”I told her silently.“I’ll always choose you. I love you.”I said before finally passing out.
EPILOGUE
REESE
Two Months Later
“Back to the crime scene,” I joked as Chael pulled through the iron gate into the semicircle parking lot of the Alliance’s headquarters.
Unfortunately, he didn’t think my joke was as funny as I thought. Those brown irises shined with concern, a slight frown touching his lips as he peered over at me in the passenger seat.
“We don’t have to go in here if you don’t want.” We came to a stop directly in front of the front door. “I’ll tell them all to kiss my—”
I wrapped my hand around his forearm, squeezing it. “It was just a joke, babe.”
His frown deepened.
“Seriously.” I rolled my eyes and smiled. “Besides, I’m the one who should be more worried. You almost died in that building.” I jutted my head toward the headquarters.
A shudder ran through me as I thought about what could’ve been. The silver blade that sliced through his rib cage did massive damage. Not only because of the death metal itself but because Rufus had laced it with the wolfsbane concoction he and Pines had developed.
Thankfully, Chance had sent a secret alert to the Alliance members and its security when he couldn’t get in contact with Chael. Moments after Chael passed out, help arrived. He’d spent a week in the hospital recuperating.
Henry chose that moment to emerge from his seat in the back. He nudged my shoulder before sticking his head between the driver’s and passenger seat and licking the side of my face.
“I’m okay, buddy.” He’d become even more protective over me in the past few weeks. There was no way we could’ve left him at home in New Mexico while we made this trip.
“This is just a building to me,” Chael said. “One I would’ve burned to the ground or ripped to shreds with my teeth if anything worse had happened to you…” He took my wrist in his hand and trailed his thumb over it.
It was a move he’d done frequently over the past few weeks. Even though the burn marks from the silver handcuffs were only a memory.
“Or him.” He reached around Henry and laid his over my belly.
That warm, gushy feeling rushed over me, and I sighed in contentment. That had been the reason why the silver burned my skin. Because of the baby I carried in my womb. I was a little over twelve weeks pregnant. Ms. Elsie had first recognized it, hence why she tried to feed me like I was going off to war.
And it was why I still couldn’t even look at what was once my favorite chocolate bar. The mention of theCword alone sent me into a nausea spiral.
“We’re both fine,” I reminded him. “Let’s get this over with.”
Chael took one final look at me before getting out of the car and coming around to hold the door open for me, and then Henry. The guard at the front door hadn’t moved even once we parked.
His betas, Raffa, Ben, Mike, and of course, Chance all accompanied us. They remained as loyal to Chael as ever.
Chael wrapped an arm around my back and escorted me to the door. He nodded at the guard, said a few words, and he stepped aside, allowing all of us to enter. Though I’d told Chael I was fine, I had to admit returning to this building after what happened was a little weird. But Chael’s presence had been requested, and I insisted on being by his side.
